The Great Kyoho Famine (1/2)The Great Famine that Affected 2 Million People

During the Edo period, famines caused by poor harvests occurred frequently. The three major famines are known as the Great Kyoho Famine, the Great Tenmei Famine, and the Great Tenpo Famine. The first of these was the Great Kyoho Famine, which occurred mainly in western Japan in 1732 (the 17th year of the Kyoho era), and about 2 million people suffered from hunger. In this article, we will explain in an easy-to-understand way the causes of the Great Kyoho Famine and the measures taken by the Edo Shogunate.

What was the Great Kyoho Famine?

The Kyoho Famine was a major famine that occurred in the latter half of the Kyoho era (1716-1736) in the 17th year of the Kyoho era (1732). The Shogun at the time was the 8th Shogun, Tokugawa Yoshimune. During Yoshimune's reign, the Shogunate's finances continued to be in the red, and Arai Hakuseki wrote "The rule of righteousness" caused a decrease in the amount of money in circulation, resulting in a deflationary situation.Kyoho reform" and will tackle various economic and social policies, including fiscal reconstruction.

Yoshimune was known as a shogun who was so obsessed with rice that he was called the "Rice Shogun." In order to rebuild his finances, Yoshimune put up a notice in Edo Nihonbashi (Nihonbashi, Chuo Ward, Tokyo) and called on merchants to take on new rice development projects on a notification system.

In addition, he changed the method of collecting taxes from the "Kenmiho" method, which was based on the annual harvest yield, to the "Jomenho" method, in which taxes were calculated based on the average harvest yield over a certain period, in an effort to stabilize tax income. However, in times of poor harvests, he abolished the Jomenho method, which placed a burden on farmers, and also applied the "Hamenkenmiho" method, which adopted the Kenmiho method. In addition, in 1728 (the 13th year of the Kyoho era), he raised the tax rate from "four public and six private citizens" to "five public and five private citizens" in an effort to increase tax income.

Furthermore, Yoshimune forced feudal lords to pay rice to him at a rate of 100 koku per 10,000 koku of rice in the "Jomai System." In return, he reduced the length of stay in Edo during sankin-kotai from one year to six months. These measures increased the rice supply sufficiently, and the finances of the shogunate improved.

However, rice prices continued to fall due to deflation caused by an oversupply resulting from increased rice production and a shortage of currency due to a decrease in gold and silver production. On the other hand, the prices of other items did not change much due to an increase in demand for daily necessities, especially in cities, so the situation was one of "low rice prices and high prices for other things," as if prices had risen relatively.

For this reason, Yoshimune attempted to raise the price of rice. In 1725 (the 10th year of the Kyoho era), he allowed Edo merchants to set up a rice market in Osaka and tried to have them control the price of rice, but the Osaka merchants rebelled. In the end, Yoshimune was forced to officially recognize the Dojima Rice Market in Osaka (Kita-ku, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture) in 1730 (the 15th year of the Kyoho era) and allow the merchants to trade freely.

Yoshimune also tried to adjust rice prices by having each feudal domain stockpile rice ("enirome") and by having the shogunate purchase rice and stockpile it ("kaimai"). This policy was successful, and the decline in rice prices hit bottom in 1731 (the 16th year of the Kyoho era). It seemed that rice prices had stabilized, but then the Great Kyoho Famine occurred in 1732 (the 17th year of the Kyoho era).

Causes of the Kyoho Great Famine ① Bad Weather

One of the causes of the Kyoho Famine was the bad weather that had continued since the end of 1731 (the 16th year of the Kyoho era). Long periods of rain continued, mainly in western Japan, and in 1732 (the 17th year of the Kyoho era), there was also heavy rain in the spring, and temperatures did not rise even as summer approached. According to documents from that time, heavy rain continued during the rainy season, causing flooding in Kyushu, as well as the Chugoku and Shikoku regions. This cold damage caused poor rice growth, which was one of the causes of the famine.

Cause of the Kyoho Great Famine 2. Locust Damage Caused by Planthoppers

The main cause of the Kyoho famine was the mass outbreak of rice planthoppers, a pest of rice. Planthoppers are tiny insects, about 5 mm in length, that pierce rice stalks with their straw-like mouthparts and suck out moisture and nutrients, causing the plants to wither.

These planthoppers were carried to Japan from China and other places by the southwesterly seasonal winds accompanying the rainy season front, and they multiplied in large numbers, causing great damage to rice. First, the white-backed planthopper (summer planthopper), which prefers young rice, arrived in July. The damage then spread from northern Kyushu to Shikoku, Chugoku, and the Kinki region.

In late August, the brown planthopper (autumn planthopper) replaced the white-backed planthopper, causing a mass outbreak of the tenacious autumn planthopper and causing great damage in western Japan.

Farmers did not sit idly by and allow the locusts to consume them. However, in the Edo period, the main method of dealing with locust infestations was through prayers and spells to the gods and Buddhas. A "mushi-okuri" ceremony was held all over the country, in which villagers would parade along the rice paddy ridges carrying torches and carrying dolls made from straw. There was also a method of pouring whale oil on the surface of the rice paddy water and hitting the rice with a stick to shake off the planthoppers, but it was far too late to eradicate them all. Thus, there was nothing that could be done to eradicate the locusts, and the rice shortage led to a great famine.

Damage caused by the Kyoho Famine

The Kyoho famine caused great damage. According to the Mushitsukisonmorisho, a collection of official documents on insect damage and famine compiled between 1732 and the following year, the Kyoho famine caused starvation to 12,172 people nationwide.

In 1894, Okada published Nihon Saiishishi, a book that classified and compiled 213 disaster-related records. According to the book, 46 domains in western Japan were affected, and the total harvest of the 46 domains in 1734 was only about 630,000 koku, compared to the average of about 2.36 million koku for the previous five years.

The Nihon Saiishi lists the number of victims nationwide as about 2.64 million, with about 12,000 people starving to death. However, research suggests that each feudal domain likely under-reported the number of people who starved to death for fear of being scolded by the shogunate, and that the actual number of deaths was likely much higher.

Incidentally, the Iyo Matsuyama Domain (which covers most of present-day Ehime Prefecture, with 5,705 deaths) had the highest number of deaths from starvation in the "Mushitsukisonmorishosho." The domain was reprimanded by the shogunate for its delayed and ineffective famine relief measures, and for the high number of deaths. In December 1732 (the 17th year of the Kyoho era), the domain's lord, Matsudaira Sadahide, was placed under house arrest.

Tokugawa Yoshimune's famine countermeasures: rice relief and borrowing money

What kind of measures did the Edo Shogunate and each feudal domain take in response to the Kyoho Famine? Immediately after the outbreak of the famine, the Shogunate formed a team led by Matsudaira Norimura, the senior councilor, Honda Tadamune, the junior councilor, and Ooka Tadasuke, the Edo magistrate, to begin providing support to the domains of western Japan. The Shogunate purchased rice, sold rice, and released rice as tax to transport rice from the eastern provinces to the disaster areas of western Japan. This transportation of large amounts of rice, or the rice itself, is called "kaimai (rice transportation)." During the Kyoho Famine, a total of approximately 275,515 koku of rice was transported as kaimai.

Furthermore, under the direction of Finance Magistrate Sugioka Yoshitsune, the shogunate provided relief funds, or haishin, to feudal lords who suffered from poor harvests. The loan period was five years. The condition was that the tax income in 1917 was less than half of the previous five years, and the funds were loaned from the shogunate treasury in Osaka. The aforementioned Iyo Matsuyama domain's average rice yield was 120,980 koku, but since its rice yield in 1917 was "none," it was paid 12,000 ryo as haishin.

By the way, at that time each feudal domain submitted a report of damage called a "loss report," and the shogunate used these reports to provide assistance and reduce alternate attendance fees.

The "Kyoho Destruction" occurred due to the rice relief supplies

The famine caused a surge in rice prices, not only in Western Japan, but also in Eastern Japan, which sent relief rice to Western Japan. In Edo, the release of relief rice reduced the amount of rice available on the market, causing rice prices to soar. Meanwhile, rumors spread that Takama Denbei, a rice wholesaler in Nihonbashi, was buying up all the rice and inflating the prices, and the people of Edo attacked Denbei's store.